21 Fun Climbing Games to Amp Up Your Rock Climbing Training | Even though a good focused climbing training plan can help take you to the next level in your climbing, sometimes you just have to have a little fun and take a break from strict regimented climbing training. When you get bored with your weekly bouldering routine, or just need a break from your strict training plan, try adding in one of these fun climbing games to get the creative brain flowing again. | shedreamsofalpine.com

My 5 Favorite Winter Climbing Areas in California | Just as the summer months here in California are a great time for high altitude alpine climbing and hiking in the Sierra Nevada, the cold temperatures of the winter months make for some great lower elevation desert rock climbing! Whether you love to sport climb, trad climb, or boulder, I've listed 5 of my favorite areas to climb in California in the winter months, and there is a little bit of everything for every style of climber. Happy Sending! | shedreamsofalpine.com

It was going to be a mountaineering-in-Utah kind of weekend, but last minute (after looking at the weather conditions and understanding the mountain we were headed to may be more of a hike than snow mountaineering) we opted to stay local, and go climbing with some friends in The Needles instead.

It's been a really long time since I've posted something. It's not because we haven't been out there doing our thing. In May we took our first sailing lessons at Redondo Beach, CA, we went bouldering at a place called Wagon Wheel in California, hiked the Jar trail several times, and went mountain biking at Wind Wolves Preserve. I meant to (and still plan to) write up a post on the Jar Trail and the mountain biking trail at Wind Wolves, but its just been a pretty hectic month (mixed in with a little bit of laziness on the weekdays).

My chico and his family generously took me under their wing for Thanksgiving and fed me good food and let me drink their booze. I am very thankful for their extreme hospitality and welcoming attitude. Given our wandering nature, Michael and I high tailed it to Joshua Tree National park post Thanksgiving day celebrations to see what the hype about climbing at Joshua Tree was all about.

Celebrating my 25th birthday couldn't have been more epic! Mountain biking, Kingfisher tower, and Ancient Art, all in one short weekend! I owe a big thanks to Darren from the club and Michael for making it all happen.

This post isn't my best in photography, and I debated even writing anything at all about it since it was such a simple little day trip that we took. But I decided I'd at least put a little something out there on Bishop Peak since it ended up being a pretty cool crag.

Sometimes it's a little unmotivating to pick up and drive 10 hours just for a weekend trip down to Utah, but the Climbing Clubs plan was to climb at San Rafael Swell's Lightbulb Tower and I just couldn't miss it. I'm really interested in getting better at crack climbing because I'm really no good at it at all, and being good at crack climbing will be key to my trad climbing future. Also, I've never climbed a tower before and the chance to be like that commercial on TV was just too alluring.

My plans for this past weekend went from hiking my butt off to climbing here at Sespe Gorge with my friend Jake and his family! I probably needed to hike to train for this next weekend, but I really have a hard time saying no to a climbing day, even if its only for a few hours.